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AN ASTEROID with the destructive power of 2,700 megatons of explosive TNT risks slamming into the Earth later this year, NASA’s asteroid trackers have revealed.

The imposing asteroid, dubbed Asteroid FT3, will come barrelling past our home planet on October 3, 2019. NASA expects the flyby to mark the first of 165 approaches between 2019 and 2116. On any one of these asteroid flybys, the risk of cataclysm is low but should the asteroid veer off course and straight into Earth, the results could be cataclysmic. Asteroid FT3 is a monstrous rocky object measuring an estimated 1,115ft (340m) in diameter.

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NASA first spotted the rock on March 20, 2007, and has since confirmed FT3’s orbit based on a total of 14 observations.

The US space agency said: “In the unlikely case where a particular potential impact event persists until the orbit is relatively well constrained, the impact probability and associated risk will tend to increase as observations are added.

“This is not too paradoxical: If an asteroid is indeed going to come very near the Earth then a collision cannot be ruled out early on.

“The impact probability will tend to grow as the orbit is refined and alternative and safer trajectories are eliminated.

“Eventually, the impact probability will drop – usually quite abruptly – to zero or, if the asteroid is really on a collision trajectory, it will continue to grow until it reaches 100 percent.”

So, what are the odds of this asteroid striking the Earth in October?

Thankfully, the risk is incredibly low but it is not non-existent.

There is a small chance – about one in 11,000,000 – Asteroid FT3 will crash into us in the next three months.

The odds of impact translate into a 0.0000092% chance of cataclysm or a 99.9999908% chance the asteroid will miss Earth.

Should we be worried about an asteroid impact?

According to the European Space Agency (ESA), impacts from large asteroids are incredibly rare and it is the small to medium-sized rocks that are the real danger.

Most of these rocky objects disintegrate in the atmosphere before reaching the ground but resulting explosion can still be dangerous.

When a space rock exploded in the skies over Russia’s Chelyabinsk Oblast in 2013, the resulting arblast injured more than 1,000 people with shards of broken window glass.

The ESA said: “Living close to an active star, in a Solar System filled with ancient and fast-moving space rocks, on a planet that is becoming increasingly surrounded by discarded satellites and their debris, comes with a plethora of possibilities for something to go wrong.”

NASA asteroid: The space rock could hit Earth on one of 165 different dates (Image: GETTY)

NASA asteroid: The odds of impact are incredibly low for this year (Image: GETTY)

What is an asteroid? What is a comet?

Rocky asteroids and icy comets are the leftovers of the early solar system from some 4.6 billion years ago.

The main difference between the two is their unique compositions.

Asteroids are primarily made up of rocky material and different metals.

Comets, on the other hand, are icy chunks of rock that shed or sublimate their icy layers as they fly around the solar system.

According to NASA, the compositions mean both comets and asteroids are effectively “a look at a fossil record of planetary evolution”.

NASA said: “Their relatively pristine state makes the comets, asteroids and some meteors wonderful storytellers with much to share about what conditions were like in the early solar system.

“They can reveal secrets about our origins, chronicling the processes and events that led to the birth of our world.

“They might offer clues about where the water and raw materials that made life possible on Earth came from.”

NASA estimates there are currently 796,279 known asteroids and 3,583 known comets.

The biggest known asteroid is 4 Vesta – a giant rocky body in the main asteroid belt.